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Mark Charles thinks it is time for America to have a national dialogue about race, gender and class.

Published May 30, 2019

WASHINGTON — With a release of a YouTube video,  Mark Charles, a tribal citizen of the Navajo Nation, announced he is running for president of the United States in 2020.

Charles, who is one of the country's leading experts on the Doctrine of Discovery, challenges Americans to get past the current politics of whether America needs to be great again or the opposing viewpoint that America is already great and enter into a national dialogue that involves race, gender and class.

He calls his campaign an 18-month journey.

In his announcement video that runs almost nine minutes, Charles argues "We the People" in the U.S. Constitution was not inclusive of women or Native Americans and only considered African American slaves as only being 3/5 of a person. Charles says even with the attempt to remedy the injustice of slavery of African Americans, the United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world with a disproportionate of people of color.

Charles says "We the people have never meant all the people." He feels it is time for inclusion. He says it is time for "We the people to truly means all the people."

Neither a Democrat or a Republican, Charles, who lives in Washington D.C., is running as an independent.

 

DISCLOSURE: Charles is a longtime contributor to Native News Online 

Read his latest Commentary that appeared Monday, on Memorial Day, in Native News Online:  A Native Perspective on Memorial Day

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About The Author
Levi Rickert
Author: Levi RickertEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Levi "Calm Before the Storm" Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print/online category by the Native American Journalists Association. He serves on the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at [email protected].